Love and War
by Supa Supa Bad Truly Mad Moves
Summary: Sequel to 'Monsters vs Vampires' and 'ICBG'. 3way Xover of Maximum Ride, Twilight, and Monsters vs. Aliens. With the forces of technology, the paranormal, and the spiritual against them, the stakes are growing higher for the newly allied families.
1. Reception

**Love and War**

**Part Three of a Three-Way Crossover of Twilight, Maximum Ride, and Monsters vs. Aliens**

**Chapter 1: Reception**

**ALICE CULLEN**

The wedding guests all departed for the banquet hall at the back of the ship while the wedding party went to the front for the wedding photos.

Hollywood was coming. A robotic dragon programmed for strategizing in combat. I didn't know why it was coming or what it would do when it got here, but I saw it coming.

Edward was getting into a line with the other groomsmen. He was planning to slip in a comment about Hollywood.

_Edward!_ I screeched mentally. _Don't you dare!_

He glared at me.

_The pictures will be done before it gets here,_ I insisted. _Don't wreck this for them._

I returned to the banquet hall, giving Edward another exaggerated threatening glare as I departed.

I kept my psychic eye on Hollywood. What would it do when it got here? I barely noticed when a brown-haired man stepped up beside me.

"Hey there," he said. "Derek Dietl."

I absently shook his hand. "Alice Cullen."

"You have a cell phone I could borrow?"

"Why?"

"I need to call my mother and tell her I've found the woman I'm going to annoy for the next five to ten minutes."

I broke out laughing. I genuinely hadn't seen that coming, probably because of the close eye I was keeping on the oncoming robot. "Good one," I said.

"Thanks," he said. "So, are you married?"

"Hmm? No, but I know a man who would be very ticked off if he heard me telling people that."

He looked blank. "Uh, what?"

"Yeah, I'm married."

"Oh."

"To that guy," I said, pointing in the general direction of Jasper.

Derek looked. "Who, Flinchy McGoo over there?"

I followed his gaze. Jasper's face was contorted terribly. I ran up to him. "What's wrong, Jasper?"

"That guy," he whispered. "Who is that?"

"Who, Derek? He used to be engaged to Susan. What about him?"

"He's got the... the scent," he muttered. "Like Bella had for Edward. He's my flavor."

"Oh, my," I said.

"I can't handle it," he muttered.

I tapped his shoulder. "You've done great, sweetheart," I said. "You're showing magnificent self-control."

"I can't last much longer," he rasped.

"Okay, baby," I said in a soothing voice. "It's okay. You won't hurt him. Sneak out the back and dive into the ocean so you can't breathe. Catch a whale or something. Okay?"

"Okay."

I gave him a quick kiss and sent him on his way. I faintly heard him landing in the water.

The wedding party was returning. At that very moment, Hollywood burst out of the water and landed on deck. Gasps rang out.

"Are you kidding me?" Susan roared. "Do you mind? I'm trying to get married here!"

Three times in rapid succession, Susan punched Hollywood in the face, heavily denting it. Hollywood threw out a wing to deflect the fourth blow, then punched Susan's face with a spiked fist, leaving a nasty cut on her forehead.

Susan leaned back, putting all of her weight on her hands, delivering a powerful kick to Hollywood's chest with both feet. She went for another punch, but the robot grabbed her hand and threw her to the floor. A jet of fire was unleashed from Hollywood's mouth. Susan rolled out of the way, only slightly singed. She picked up one of the dining tables at tossed it at the dragon's head.

Hollywood was thrown off-balance, giving Susan just enough time to get to her feet. As soon as she did, though, she was forcibly tackled. The giant woman and the robot both pitched over the side of the ship.

Everyone rushed to the railing. Beneath the surface, the fight was still going strong. A wolfish howl rang out through the water.

"What happened?" Dr. Cockroach whispered.

A splash sounded from the opposite end of the boat. Everyone spun to see Susan, dripping wet in her wedding dress.

"Hey," she said wryly. "All right, let's cut the cake."


	2. Voices

**Chapter 2: Voices**

**MAXIMUM RIDE**

I sat around a wedding table with the flock. Gazzy stepped up bearing a plate.

"Wow," he observed. "What a miserable crew we are."

He sat down between Iggy and Nudge. In Iggy's voice, he said, "Hey, guys, I'm sorry I've been such a jerk lately. I need to get over myself."

"Gazzy," Iggy growled threateningly.

Gazzy continued, this time in Nudge's voice. "And I'm sorry I've been so isolated. I should spend time with the family as well as my new boyfriend."

"You don't have to do that, Gazzy," Nudge said.

"Thanks, though," I offered.

Gazzy looked at me and spoke in my voice, "And you know what? Fang, I can't deny it anymore. I love you. I want you."

I'd had about enough of that. I flew off to the upper deck of the ship.

_Not easy, is it, Max?_

_No, Voice,_ I retorted. _It's not easy. Even less so with you yammering in my head all the time._

_Max, you have a job to do now. You must..._

"I don't want to!" I screamed aloud. "I don't want to, you stupid, annoying, useless head voice! I don't want anymore fights and chases and rescues! I just want to go home!" I collapsed to the floor, sobbing.

Susan lifted her head and sat next to me. "What's wrong, Max?"

"Oh, nothing. Just being schizophrenic. Don't let me wreck your wedding."

She put a giant hand on my shoulders. "I don't think anything short of another dragon attack could wreck this perfect, beautiful day," she said. "Come on, Max. I'm a friend. What's going on?"

"I just want to go home," I whispered. "I don't know or care where it is, I just want to go home."

She nodded, looking out to sea. "I used to think Modesto was my home," she said thoughtfully. "And that when I moved to Fresno, that would be my home, and so on. Sometime between defeating the robot and being abducted, a realized what my home really was."

"What?" I asked.

She gestured grandly at the ocean. "Earth," she said simply. "This planet is my home. And when you have a home, you need to protect it."

I nodded. "That's interesting," I said sincerely. "You know, it's just sometimes I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders."

"I know that feeling," she said.

"Well, that's different," I said. "You have really big shoulders."

Susan laughed. "That's true. But you have four of 'em, so it evens out."

"No, just two. I don't think the wing joints count as shoulders."

"Sure they do. Wings are just like any other forelimbs, with the fingers and elbow, just a bit different in, uh... I don't think that's what we were talking about."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not what we were talking about."

"Right. Sorry, go on."

I tried to get myself back on track. "Um... well, the main difference between you and me is, you're done with your burden. You were sent out to defeat the aliens, so you did. Now you're free. Me, I've never once been free in my life. It seems just every day, there's a constant barrage of 'Ooh, you're Maximum Ride! The fate of the planet lies in your hands! Your life is worth the lives of thousands! Your destiny is directly entangled with... with...' I don't know. You get it. Granted, most of this pressure comes from the inside of my own head, but it still gets old. I need a break! I want to hang up my hat and coat for a little bit. I want to stop being Maximum Ride and just be a girl, you know?"

Susan wrapped her large, beautiful hand around me. "I'm a girl, too," she reminded me. "I was born a girl."

"I wasn't," I muttered. "I should have been. By all rights, I should have been. But some psycho scientists felt the need to take that right away from me."

"Max," Susan said gently. "You're something a lot more special than just a girl. I don't know what it is that's expected of you, but whatever it is, I know you can do it."

I wrapped my arms around her fingers. "Thanks, Susan," I said. "It's nice to hear that from an outsider."


	3. Last Straw

**Chapter 3: Last Straw**

**MARCUS VOLTURI**

"Marcus!" Caius bellowed, stomping into my room.

I turned to him with the bored expression that I must have spent at least a million hours perfecting in front of the mirror. "What, Caius?" I said in my also-much-rehearsed deadpan voice. "Can't you see I'm counting grains of salt?"

"Look at this," he snarled, shoving a small device under my nose.

I looked at it. "A PSP on YouTube," I observed. "You know, Caius, you really are an ancient overlord."

"Just watch the video," he snapped.

I scrolled down. The video was titled "Ginormica battles a robotic dragon underwater in her wedding dress". "I think the title says it all," I said dryly.

"Just watch it!" Caius bellowed. His anger caused me to laugh for probably about the eighth or ninth time in my existence.

You must understand, I have been around for more than three millennia with no constant company but my two brothers. I defy anyone to spend that long with two people and not bait them at least occasionally.

The video was exactly what the title described. Ginormica and the machine grappled underwater for several seconds, before something small and black zipped in and delivered a killing blow to the dragon.

"What's your point?" I asked.

"Look!" Caius roared. "Look! Right at the end. The killing blow!" I watched the video again.

"What is that thing?"

"That's Jasper," Caius said simply. "Carlisle's boy. The video is available in higher quality on some sites. People are already studying it, wondering what it could be. They'll figure it out, then what will become of us?" He grinned broadly. "Do you see, brother? This is no misunderstanding this time. The law is on our side. We're going to take those yellow-eyed abominations down."


	4. The Whole Shebang

**Chapter 4: The Whole Shebang**

**JACOB BLACK**

I stumbled sleepily down the stairs. I wasn't ready to wake up, but when the object of one's imprinting tells you to wake up and come downstairs, you wake up and come downstairs. You know what I mean? Well, no, you don't. You're not an imprinted wolf. I assume. If you are, let me know, 'cause I don't know who the hell you are.

In the dining room, the Cullens were waiting for me. "What have you been doing?" Bella demanded. "We've been waiting for you."

I glared. "I've been sleeping," I said. "Unlike some undead monsters I could mention, I don't stay up all night every night playing pin the tail on the donkey. What's going on?"

Alice and Edward stood up and I groaned. If this was orchestrated by these two, it wasn't exactly an invitation to Chuck E. Cheese's.

"The Volturi are coming for us," Edward said. "This time, they're really coming for us."

Everyone gasped.

"Someone filmed Susan fighting Hollywood," Alice said. "Jasper is on the tape. They're coming down to exterminate us before anyone figures out what's on the tape."

"Oh, no," Rosalie said. "What will this do to the play?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, the big concern is the play, Rose," I said. "We're all in the play, bimbo."

"Yes, but none quite so much as me," Rosalie countered.

"Yeah, mostly you," I retorted. "That's why the play is called _Romeo and His Mom_."

"Jake, Rose, stop it," Carlisle said. "Alice, any more details?"

"Same as last time," Alice said. "They're coming. The whole guard, wives and all. They're taking a month to prepare. They want to teach their entire coven to fight hand-to-hand, at least until they take out Bella. They won't listen to witnesses. They're not going to hesitate for even a second. They're going to wipe us out."

"Well," Carlisle said calmly. "We need to put some friends together. The law is not on our side this time. The extended family, possibly a few of Jasper's nomadic friends."

"Don't forget our new friends," I put in. "The flock and the monsters."

"Not the flock," Nessie said hastily. "They're too delicate. They can't fight vampires. And we're not going for witnesses this time. We need an army."

Everyone looked at her. That truth had not yet sunken in for the rest of us.

"Son of a bitch," I muttered.

"Well, that's it then," Carlisle said grimly. "We need to put together everyone we know.


	5. Amends

**Chapter 5: Amends**

**NUDGE**

I plucked out the simple bass pattern that I had learned. We had all discovered, to our surprise, that it took very little practice with our instruments before we could play almost flawlessly. Somehow, we knew exactly where to place our fingers for exactly the right sounds. Maybe, like birds, we have an innate talent for music.

Max was the only one experiencing difficulty, as she had been assigned the drummer. It took her a whole hour before she could tap out the right rhythm. Now she was doing awesome.

"Lookin' good, Maximum!" I called to her over the thumping bass.

"You too!" she yelled enthusiastically.

Angel was playing a tambourine, and not just in the way that you'd give a little kid an instrument to play with. She was building on the rhythm like nobody's business.

"And look at you, Iggy!" Max yelled. "You've got all your old energy back. You just needed a hobby."

"Yeah, about that," Iggy said. "About hobbies? There was another one I've been meaning to try that I think could really help my stress levels—"

"No driving," Max said firmly.

Iggy grumbled, but continued to play the keyboards.

Gazzy reached the end of the song and we all stopped playing.

"Hell yeah!" Fang whooped. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have our band. We rocked."

"Really?" I said hopefully.

"No, we blew, but that's more than most high-school garage bands can say. Just imagine, by the time high school actually does roll around..." He kissed his hand and flung it in no particular direction. "We're going places, folks. Good night, everybody."

We all hung up our instruments and said good night. Max remained firmly on her stool.

"What?" she demanded. "Come on! We can't be done. We gotta rock and roll some more!" She played a drumroll.

"No, we gotta sleep some more," Fang countered. "Good night, Max."

Everyone departed for bed. I sidled up next to Iggy and gave him a hug. "Iggy," I said sweetly.

"Hey, Nudge," he said. "So, how's Aaron?"

I looked at him cautiously. "You really want to know?"

"Of course I do," Iggy insisted. "I want to know what my family is up to."

"Well, Aaron is great," I said. "I'm going to fly to La Push tomorrow. I think that'll be the night with him."

He raised his eyebrows. "The night?"

"Yeah. You know, paintball night."

"Okay, good, 'cause there's something a bit unsettling about an eleven-year-old saying 'tonight will be the night'."

"What are you talking about?" I said with a laugh.

"You don't know? Okay, that's good. So, are long-distance relationships as tough as they say?"

I shrugged. "Not really. It's hardly a long-distance relationship when half of the couple can fly and has no obligations... and that half is me, if you didn't catch that."

"No, I did," he assured me. "But, uh, you do have obligations, Nudge. Winter break ends this coming Monday. We have to go to school."

I blinked. "Oh, crap."


	6. Mozzarella Sticks

**Chapter 6: Mozzarella Sticks**

**THE BIG GUY**

I walked up the ramp into Tran's private plane. "Hey, friend," I said. "Sorry about Hollywood."

"Don't be," he assured me. "That's the whole purpose of having henchmen: completely expendable. It's a fast-changing market. By the time you've brought out your latest henchman, you may find that you yourself have just come up with an even better idea. Here, I have four samples for your attack on the Olympic monsters. I've chosen a variety of machines so that we may observe the capabilities of this family... assuming, of course, that the team I've assembled is unable to defeat them. We don't know."

I nodded. "Bring them out."

Tran led me to an exhibition room on the plane. "Stephenie!" he called.

A small robot flew in. It had four limbs, all of them winged and ending in claws. It was covered in dazzling blue feathers, and its motion was so fluid that I would have taken it for a biological creature if not for its lifeless eyes.

"Stephenie's design comes from the dinosaur Microraptor," Tran explained. "Though she is more versatile than the creature itself. She can actually fly as well as glide, and she can fight in midair. She'll take care of our aerial combat."

I nodded. Stephenie left and what appeared to be a minivan took her place.

"What the heck is that?" I asked.

"This is Van," Tran said. "A heavily armored all-terrain vehicle with fair artificial intelligence and a virtual arsenal of weapons."

The next robot that entered looked like a foot-tall, featureless human. "Lang here," Tran said, "is programmed with many kinds of martial arts. And now, here comes my baby..."

The fourth robot was a hulking brute, fifteen feet tall and covered in interlocking armor plates. Its spindly arms dragged on the ground and ended in wicked hooks. It walked like a dinosaur, an image completed by its head.

"This is Alexis," Tran said.

"Amazing," I breathed. "What does she do?"

"Well, she's real good in the kitchen," Tran joked.

I laughed. "Let me guess, she makes queso dip."

"I was gonna say mozzarella sticks, but if you think the queso dip joke is still good..."

"No," I said hastily. "Dead, completely dead. Mozzarella sticks, then. What does Alexis do, really?"

"Well, all nine of her senses cannot be rivaled by any living being," he said.

"Nine?"

"Touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing, electricity, motion, heat, and thought," he said grandly. "These claws can cut through absolutely anything. And she is not at all concerned with finesse."

A parrot-like voice sounded from Alexis' maw. "Kill," she said. "Crush. Death. Cut. Murder."

"A good crew," I said honestly. "Yes, even if they are defeated, we shall doubtless know how to defeat the Olympic monsters next time."

"That's the plan, Big Guy," Tran said smoothly. "Let's go."

We parachuted into a beautiful, flower-specked meadow, almost impossible to find. The four robots came behind us.


	7. Play Reading

**Chapter 7: Play Reading**

**DR. COCKROACH PH.D.**

I had a cast assembled. How exciting! I was now officially a stage director.

"Hello, Max," I said. "How are you doing with your lines?"

"Oh, it's okay," she said. "I've been working on the trademark speech." She cleared her throat. "Oh, Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

"Hold on," I said. "It's not 'wherefore art thou, comma, Romeo', it's 'Wherefore art thou Romeo?'. 'Wherefore' means 'why'. Juliet is wondering why her love must be Romeo."

"Oh!" she said, nodding. "Okay, I didn't get that."

I continued to walk around the house to see how the other actors were doing, rehearsing their scenes independently.

"Quil, Embry," I said, nodding to them. "How's the opening scene faring?"

"I'm looking at the footnotes online here," Embry said. "This is a dirty play. They're talking about maidenheads and stuff."

"Yes, Shakespeare was a pig," I agreed. "Rosalie! You're over-acting. You're Lady Montague. You don't need to deliver the performance of the century."

If looks could kill, Rosalie would have viciously murdered me with that glare. I continued circling around.

"Ah, B.O.B.," I said cautiously. "How is it going?"

Without even looking at his script, he elegantly pronounced, "Find them out whose names are written here! It is written, that the shoemaker should meddle with his yard, and the tailor with his last, the fisher with his pencil, and the painter with his nets; but I am sent to find those persons whose names are here writ, and can never find what names the writing person hath here writ. I must to the learned. - In good time."

I stared. "You are such a mystery," I muttered, moving on. "Evening, Bella, Edward."

"Doctor, is this really such a good idea?" Edward asked. "We have a war to prepare for."

I waved my hand. "Alice gave us a month," I said. "That's plenty of time to put on the play and train for combating vampires. We'll do both and we'll be bright and chipper while we do it."

"Did it have to be _Romeo and Juliet_?" Bella asked. "That play depresses me a little bit. It was a bit of a metaphor for a couple of stages in my life."

"Good," I said. "Use that."

"I could if I was Juliet," she grumbled.

I shrugged. "Pass on some wisdom to Max, then. She's having some trouble capturing the right Juliet-ness." Edward began to speak, and I interrupted him. "Edward, my friends and I are fully prepared for the Volturi, and I ask you to return that favor by being prepared for my directorial debut. I think you're the one coming out on top, if you don't mind me saying. Personally, I'd rather act than battle vampires."

Edward nodded. "Fair enough. I'm Lord Capulet, right?"

"Right. Your big moment is getting pissed off."

He nodded again. "I can get pissed off."


	8. Emmett Loses a Leg

**Chapter 8: Emmett Loses A Leg**

**EDWARD CULLEN**

It was an ordinary day at the Cullen house. Kate and Garrett were on a visit, Garrett now completely vegetarian. Emmett and Jasper were playing one of their insanely complicated self-invented board games, while Alice and I were locked in an intense game of chess that took place mostly within our heads. Nessie was tearing through a novel, and Bella and Jacob were playing video games.

I sensed the thoughts coming at about the same time Alice had a vision.

"We're under attack," we said together.

Bella's head snapped up. "Volturi?" she said. "I thought we still had a few weeks."

"Not Volturi," Alice said. "Robots."

A large robotic creature resembling a fantasy creature called a hook horror stomped through the back wall, closely followed by a small dinosaur and a miniscule humanoid.

Esme sighed. "Really?" she said. "More fighting? I hate fighting."

A minivan drove in the hole in the back wall, completely running down the dining room.

"My table!" Esme shrieked. She looked up at the van. "Oh, you gonn' die."

Esme stormed up to the van and opened its door, but there was no driver. A mechanical arm pulled her in and the doors shut and locked. Esme broke out with ease, but a laser gun popped out of the van's dashboard and singed her.

The horror spread throughout the room almost visibly. Esme had been wounded. That was impossible.

The four-winged dinosaur fluttered around the room. Kate jumped into the air and gave it a powerful electrical shock, freezing it long enough for Kate and Garrett to double up on it and rip it apart.

_Edward_, Alice called silently. _I smell some people across the river. Go get a read on their thoughts while the rest of us fight._

I nodded and crossed over to them. I saw an Asian man and what appeared to be a giant gecko. They glared at me. They had no clue what I was up to. I could stand there and listen to their life story all day, and they wouldn't know to leave.

I also kept an eye on the battle via the combatant's thoughts. Emmett was dueling the tiny robot, a fight he was enjoying heavily. It had the speed and strength of a vampire, belied by its small size.

Jasper was working on disabling the controls of the van-shaped robot. Wiring wasn't his forte, so his tactics mostly consisted of smashing anything that moved.

Emmett didn't notice when the giant robot, who I knew from listening to the thoughts of Tran and the Big Guy was named Alexis, came up behind him. A few people noticed, but no one was particularly concerned, until Alexis brought out a hook and cleanly severed Emmett's leg. Emmett fell to the ground, more due to the shock than any actual pain.

Rosalie did the last thing I would have expected her to do: she hocked a loogie, straight into the tiny robot's face. Her venom dissolved and disabled the machine.

"I think we have enough," the Big Guy muttered from across the river.

"I agree," Tran said. "Alexis! Van! Retreat!"

The two robots rushed across the river at a high speed. The family chased after them, but as soon as the two machines met with the two men, all four of them turned into dust, which vanished in an explosion of light.

"Hey!" Emmett yelled. "Where's my leg? They took my leg!"

"Jasper!" Alice screamed. Jasper had been inside Van when it disappeared.

Carlisle looked at the stump of Emmett's leg. "That is bizarre," he muttered. "What metal could possibly cut straight through a vampire limb like that?"

"Can't you reattach it?" Jacob asked.

"We have to find it first," Carlisle said grimly.

"Find it!" Emmett shouted. "I need my leg!"

"You'll be fine, Emmett. We'll get it back. Just, if you're going to be playing any football or anything, try and favor the other leg." The end of that sentence barely made it through Carlisle's laughter.

"Not funny, Carlisle!" Emmett roared. "I can't fight the Volturi with only one leg! What if they burn it?"

"They won't burn it," I said hastily. "I'm sure of it. They don't know what we are. They're going to study your leg and Jasper. I don't think any amount of study would lead them to the conclusion that we need to be burned."

"Jasper will escape," Alice said confidently. "He'll come back to us. He'll bring back your leg. And once he gets back, we'll know exactly where to find these goons, and we'll still have time to prepare for the Volturi. We can do this."


	9. Class

**Chapter 9: Class**

**FANG**

Max adjusted her backpack and sighed. "Here we go, everyone," she said. "Time for purgatory. I mean, school."

She led us through the doors. "This is good for us," she assured the group. "This school was dedicated specially to us. We even have our own dormitory! First start to a normal life. No more hiding."

I couldn't help but feel like I'd rather be hiding. A few older girls were not bothering to hide the fact that they were checking me out. I gave them the meanest glare I could manage, but I think it may have looked a bit too sexy. I glanced at Max, and she noticed.

"What's that?" she asked. "Do you want confirmation or something?" She laughed. "Fang, I'm not your mother, all right? You can date. I don't mind."

I turned down the hall to my first class. But I found myself stopping. Voicing my thoughts wasn't a habit I tried to get into, but I had to do it now. I turned around.

"Max!" I called.

She turned. "Yeah?"

"I don't want to date, Max."

"What do you want, then?"

"I want you," I said bluntly.

Max looked around. A few of our new peers had noticed our long-distance discussion and were paying rapt attention.

"Fang, please... I..." She sighed and walked right up to me. "Fang, there's something you need to understand."

"What?"

She put her hand tightly on my shoulder and locked her big brown eyes deeply into mine. "I love you, Fang," she said with a slight laugh. "I love you so much. You're my rock. Okay? You're my whole world, my whole life. I don't know how I would ever survive if I didn't see you every single day of my life." She moved her hand from my shoulder to my lips, pressing them lightly with her fingers. "But don't take that to mean more than what it does. I could say the same of any member of this flock."

"Wow," I said.

She nodded. "Are we gonna rock and roll tonight?"

I sighed. "Yeah, we're gonna rock and roll tonight. I'll get the sound system set up before you get back."

"Good," she said. She squeezed my shoulder, and gave me one last smile before walking down the hall.


	10. Steam

**Chapter 10: Steam**

**NUDGE**

I slipped my hand into Aaron's as we walked down the park path. Looking at him, touching him... my already-freaky heart rate was breaking records.

We didn't talk, but we didn't have to. Our first conversation, at the Monster Convention, had been filled with awkward pauses and silences, but from the first time he held my hand, those silences became the most perfect moments of my life.

An old woman walking her dogs gave us a huge smile as she passed. I tried to look at the two of us from an outsider's point of view... yep, I'd have to say that we were pretty darn cute.

"Oh, look, Aaron!" I said. "Pelicans!"

The two large white birds stood upright as we approached, their baggy beaks flapping around and their wings spread.

"Cool," he said. "Let's get 'em!"

"Get 'em?" I repeated with a laugh.

Aaron bolted towards the pelicans and tackled one. He had given up his ancestral shape-shifting gift, but he was still big, strong, and fast. The boy and bird both tumbled into the lake. I laughed my head off - oh, God, laughter sure came easier ever since I met this boy. I swooped in on the second pelican and grappled with it under the water. Aaron and I surfaced, and the two pelicans flew away indignantly.

"See, look at that," I said. "Most couples exchange cards and flowers, and go to movies or restaurants. Us? We wrestle pelicans."

Aaron swam up and caressed my face. "You're so pretty," he said.

My heart pumped seventy-nine thousand times in the next quarter of a second. "Thank you," I whispered.

I turned around, planning to swim to shore, but he pulled me back. He rubbed my shoulders.

"Mm, Aaron," I muttered. "That feels good, but I can't fly with wet feathers."

"We have time to dry you off," he replied.

"Yeah, we do," I admitted. "When I'm with you I feel like I have all the time in the world."

He kissed my shoulder and my neck. "Hey," he said. "What are those numbers on the back of your neck?"

I shrieked. "Numbers? I can't be expiring! What are the numbers?" I whirled on him and I saw that he was laughing hysterically.

"What?" I asked. "Were you joking? Did you seriously think you could joke about that?"

His laughter died slightly. Very slightly.

"Never do something like that again, Aaron!" I said. "That's something I really worry about in my life. You can't know how much that freaked me out."

His face glowed with laughter. "You stop that!" I roared. I punched him in the face and leapt out of the lake.

My wings were still too wet to fly. I ran all the way back to the Lerner's dormitories.

"Nudge?" Iggy said as I came in. "Hey, what's the matter?"

He was in a large flowery armchair. I squeezed in next to him, sobbing.

"Did something happen?" he asked. "I thought you were on a steamy date with Aaron."

"Steaming with anger, maybe," I muttered. "He made this totally horrible joke... he pretended that he saw my expiration date appear."

"Oh my God. That's bad taste."

"He could see how freaked out I was, but he... he just wouldn't stop laughing." I sniffed. "I've never seen that side of him before. It's confusing. I'm just so in love with him." I looked up at Iggy.

"Um..." he said. "I'm not so good with the advice. Could I interest you in a sarcastic remark?"

I chuckled weakly.

"Listen, Nudge," he said. "You and Aaron are at a transitional point of your lives, one that Max, Fang, and myself have been enjoying for a while now. You've seen what goes on between Max and Fang. They're not crazy. They're just fourteen."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you're going to be doing a lot of dumb stuff for several years now. There's some freaky stuff messing with your brain now, and Aaron's, too. Just try and let a couple of things slide, okay? Hang onto him as long as you can. Because if your relationship with Aaron can survive puberty, it can probably survive just about anything."

I hugged him. "Thanks, Iggy," I said. "Love you."

He tousled my hair. "Good night, Nudge."


	11. Plans for the Future

**Chapter 11: Plans for the Future**

**SUSAN MURPHY**

"Exhale and look to the ceiling..."

I moved on to the next yoga pose on the video. My fellow monsters were just waking up, coming downstairs to join me in the living room.

"Hey, Susan," Link said. "Doin' some yoga?"

"Yep," I replied, trying to get a conversation going while still performing my exercises. "Gotta get in shape for the battle with the Volturi."

Link frowned. "What happened to the honeymoon?"

"We have friends in danger, Link," I said. "Doctor and I agreed that it'd be best to postpone the honeymoon until after the fight."

"What if you don't both survive the fight?" Link challenged.

I laughed as I exhaled and got to my feet. "Of course we'll both survive the fight, Link."

"We've talked about this," Dr. Cockroach said. "Our friends in need are far more important than our honeymoon."

"So you're doing yoga," Link said skeptically.

"She's doing yoga, I'm developing weapons that could harm vampires. The trick is to—"

"Yoga?" B.O.B. interrupted. "I like yoga. Fruit on the bottom, little gross liquid on the top... good stuff."

"That's yogurt, B.O.B.," I said. "I'm doing yoga."

"What's that?"

"That's..." I shrugged, at a loss. "That's what I'm doing right now."

"Oh, I remember! That little green wrinkly guy. The Muppet Jedi, right? The one who's all, um... you know."

"No, dude, that's Yoda," Link said.

"Then what's Susan doing?"

"Yoga!" Link snapped.

"Which is...?"

Link sighed and looked at Dr. Cockroach. "How much do you think B.O.B. would fetch us on eBay?"

"Link," Dr. Cockroach scolded. "We can't sell B.O.B. He's family." He gave B.O.B. a sidelong glance. "Of course, if we had a good photo, and we didn't go into specifics..."

"No, Doctor," I chided. "You were right the first time. He's family."

"Seriously, though, guys," Link said, the smile vanishing from his face. "You two are married now. Where is this gonna go? Are you gonna get your own place? No, that wouldn't work. You want the three of us to move out? We could move to the place that Esme got me for my birthday."

"No, that's okay," I said. "We wouldn't want you to move, at least not all the way to New Zealand. Married or not, we're a family, the five of us. Don't feel like you need to move."

"Okay," Link said. "On to the next question... how about children?"

"I call godfather," B.O.B. said instantly.

"Dude, you can't do that," Link snarled. "You already called best man."

"Well, maybe some of us are quicker on our feet than others," B.O.B. returned smugly.

"You don't have feet," Link retorted.

"Yup. That's why I'm quick on 'em."

Link looked at me. "I'm tellin' you guys. Big bucks on eBay."

"Okay, A) we're not selling B.O.B.," I said calmly. "And B), Dr. Cockroach and I can't exactly have children, Link. Even if we could, what would it be? A thirty-foot tall cockroach with white fuzz? Not something I'd be proud to bring up."

"Believe me, Link, we've thought about this a lot," Dr. Cockroach said. "Thank you for your consideration, but Susan and I aren't going to have children."

"Adopt," Link suggested.

"Raising a child in a house full of monsters?" I said. "Yeah, that won't be controversial."

"Well, not a baby," Link said. "An older kid. Thirteen, fourteen years old. It's hard to get those kinds of kids adopted. They'll be able to cope and accept us."

I paused my yoga video and looked down at Link. "Link," I said gently. "You've really thought hard about this, haven't you? Are you craving a domestic life, too?"

"Maybe," he admitted. "Maybe I'm just watching you guys have a good life and pretending it's me. We talk about it all the time, me and Insecto. You guys are so lucky. Nothing like that's ever going to happen to the rest of us... potted plants don't count," he added, with a sidelong smirk at B.O.B.

"Hey," B.O.B. said defensively. "I was not hitting on my potted plant."

"Sure you weren't."

"I really wasn't. I was talking to it, 'cause I read that talking to a plant helps it grow."

"Yeah, sure you... okay, fine. You're not smart enough to come up with a lie like that. It must be true. Anyway, yeah. Call it a vicarious domestic life."

I looked down at the doctor. "We could adopt," I said.

"Perhaps we could," he agreed. "But not until after the battle."

"Of course."


	12. The Pit

**Chapter 12: The Pit**

**JASPER WHITLOCK**

"Hey!" I called. "Hey, Jewel!"

The spidery, gemstone-studded robot looked down at me from the lip of the 700-foot deep, flawless circular pit that I was at the bottom of. "What do you want, prisoner?"

"I haven't eaten for a while," I told him.

"What do you eat?"

"Uh, what kind of wildlife do you have?"

"Well, there's—uh-uh, dude. If I tell you what kind of wildlife we have, you'll know what part of the world we're in. Nothing doing."

"I have to eat something."

"No way," Jewel countered.

Jewel and I had been bantering like this for a few days. I wasn't cooperating with him, and he therefore felt justified in not cooperating with me.

"What are you doing with my brother's leg?" I called.

"Hey, man, you answer my questions, maybe I'll answer yours."

"You feed me instead of torturing me, maybe I'll answer some of your questions," I retorted.

Jewel glared down at me. "Of course," he said suddenly. "Of course! If the Alexis robot was able to sever your brother's leg, it would probably be able to torture you as well. Alexis! Come!"

That didn't sound good. Jewel leaped down to the bottom of my pit, landing perfectly on his feet, and the Alexis robot followed close behind.

"Pierce, Alexis," Jewel said.

Alexis dug a hook into my flesh. I winced. It hurt. I had never felt pain like that, even when fighting another vampire.

"Let's start with your name," Jewel said. "I'm sure you don't like being addressed as 'prisoner'."

"Jasper Whitlock," I said. "I go by Jasper Cullen when posing as an adult and Jasper Hale when posing as a high school student."

"Explain."

"Mmm... no, I don't think I will, thank you."

Alexis severed my arm at the elbow. Before it even hit the ground, I snatched it with my other hand and reattached it.

"What are you?" Jewel demanded.

"Hungry," I retorted.

"Your species!" Jewel roared impatiently

"I'm a vampire. Happy?"

Jewel didn't like that answer. He had Alexis decapitate me. The two of them prepared to exit the pit.

In a few seconds, my head was firmly back on my shoulders. "Jewel," I called.

Jewel turned back to me, and the emotional climate in the pit quickly changed. Jewel may have been a machine, but he felt emotions. And right now the emotion was terror.

That was the reaction I had been waiting for. They didn't know how to kill a vampire. They wouldn't have burned Emmett's leg. I advanced on the two machines.

"Alexis, kill!" Jewel shrieked.

I ripped Alexis's head off and stomped on it. I went for Jewel, but Alexis's headless body came at me unerringly and slashed my back.

I jumped onto Alexis's shoulder and stomped on it, completely mutilating it. In seconds, the entire fifteen-foot monstrous robot was utterly destroyed, not a single bolt intact.

By the time I had finished off Alexis, Jewel had climbed thirty feet up the wall of the pit. I jumped straight up in the air and plucked Jewel off the wall. When we landed, I pinned Jewel underneath me.

"Where is my brother's leg, Jewel?" I snarled.

Jewel spat out a stream of spider silk into my face. A mortal would have been completely incapacitated and suffocated by the silk, but I simply ripped the entire chunk off of my face and wiped my hand on the floor. For good measure, I ripped out one of Jewel's eyes and, one-handed, crushed the diamond into glittery dust.

"The leg," I repeated.

"Room 7B," Jewel said. "The rooms are clearly marked. I'll take you."

"No need," I replied. I snapped all four of Jewel's limbs in a rapid-fire movement.

"How are you going to get out if you've broken my legs?" Jewel taunted.

"I could have gotten out of here any time I wanted," I laughed. "I just thought that if I escaped, you might threaten me by destroying the leg. Now that it's clear that you don't know what the hell to do with it, I'm splitting." For good measure, I stomped on Jewel's head. It went limp.

I took a flying leap, digging my fingers and feet into the wall. I jumped to the other end, gaining some height with every leap until, after about five minutes, I was out of the pit and in a strange, circular room.

The halls were clearly marked, as Jewel had said. I found the hallway with the number 7 over it, and entered the room marked 7B.

The first thing I noticed was Emmett's leg on a lab table, then the two terrified people who were studying it. A snake and an albatross, who I knew from the reports were Felicia Nguyen and Albert Bach.

"Give me the leg," I said quickly.

Albert tossed it to me. I prepared to go, but Albert said, "Wait!"

"What?"

"Are... are you escaping?"

"Yes."

"Take us with you," Albert begged. "We need to get out of here. We can't live like this anymore."

"Okay," I said. "Thank you. Where are we?"

"Libya."

"Hmm," I muttered. "That's just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Italy. The Volturi probably already know I'm here... do you have any aircraft we could steal to get out of here?"

"Yes," Albert said. "There's a hangar. We can come with you, then?"

"Of course," I said.

Felicia coiled around Albert, and the emotion in the room quickly became an explosion of love that I hadn't previously thought mortals capable of.

"Whoa," I said. "You two really... never mind. Let's get out of here."

The three of us fled to the hangar, stole an aircraft, and flew back to the U.S. On the way, we exchanged life stories. I knew that the family had just gained two valuable allies.

In hindsight, I probably should have destroyed Jewel as thoroughly as I destroyed Alexis. It would have made the next month a bit easier.


	13. Allies and PDA

**Chapter 13: Allies and PDA**

**BELLA CULLEN**

We had a base set up in Denali; Forks was becoming a bit of a hot spot for monster activity and we didn't want any innocent humans coming by to investigate and maybe getting hurt.

I was teaching Link a few techniques for fighting vampires, at his insistence. He had no chance at all, being a naturally-occurring mortal creature, but I thought for his ego I might as well help him with a few moves.

Alice was prancing around like a pixie. "Jasper's coming back today," she sang. "He's gonna be here within the hour, and then we'll have all the dirt on the bad guys!"

"Yeah, that's great, Alice," I said. "You mind being quiet?"

"Get him a flamethrower or something," Alice suggested. "Link can't fight vampires hand-to-hand. Hey, Stefan and Vladimir are here!"

The two ancient Romanian immortals were indeed bounding into our clearing.

"Hey, you guys," I said warily.

"Evening, Mrs. Cullen," Stefan hissed pleasantly. "Ah, this must be the Missing Link."

Link turned and laughed aloud. "Whoa," he said. "Michael Jackson's not dead, he just became two vampires." He looked around at the blank faces surrounding him. "Too soon?"

"A tad," I said. "Give it a year, maybe two. This is Stefan and Vladimir. They're always up for a little rebellion. And, ah, they're gonna stay the hell away from my daughter, capisce?"

"Not to worry, ma'am," Vladimir said with a low bow.

"Ooh, Jasper's here!" Alice said excitedly.

We didn't need to see the future to know that. A sleek black aircraft had just become visible barely yards away, Jasper piloting the craft.

"Alice!" he called. "Surprised?"

"Uh, no," she replied. They embraced and proceeded to make out.

"Is that really necessary?" I asked. "You saw each other four days ago... come on, you two. I know you have better self-control than that."

"I hate PDA," Edward muttered, coming up beside me. "We have company. Jasper brought some new friends."

I looked at the two new creatures exiting the aircraft and gasped. I had heard them described, but never seen them. Here they were, in all their glory. A thick brown-spotted snake, its eyes those of a human but otherwise very serpentine in its movements. And the seagull; as tall as a human, its wings folded neatly over its back but easily sixty feet across when spread.

"Peace," the bird said, forcing words out of its clumsy beak. "We come to you as allies. I am Albert Bach, and this is my new fiancé, Felicia Nguyen." The snake reared up and Albert wrapped a wing around the roughly shoulder-like area. "You must be Jasper's family. He's been bringing us up to speed. We are here to offer our battle services against the ICBG and the Volturi, if you'll have us."

"Allies are always welcome," Edward said graciously.

"What's your story?" I asked them. "Word on the streets is, you're from a group of escaped evil geniuses."

"Well," Albert said, "most of our adult lives have been spent in a government facility, where we were called upon to design weapons and technology. The Big Guy helped us to escape; it was an opportunity we couldn't turn down. We agreed to go through with the operation that would change us into... into these beasts." He gestured grimly at his own body. "We quickly discovered that world domination isn't really 'us'." The edges of his beak, where there were still remnants of human lips, turned up in what I assumed was a weak smile. "We've been looking for ways to escape for so long. You have our guns for the oncoming campaign. We will fight by your side. I know that seems a bit pathetic, but we've got nothing else to do."

"Albert," Felicia interrupted. Her voice was very deep, and I realized for the first time that she was deaf. "Albert, are we free?"

He looked into her eyes and nodded.

Albert and Felicia embraced... as much as a bird and a snake can embrace.

"The odds keep getting better," Edward said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "We'll have the Volturi beat."

"Not like that," Edward retorted, rolling his eyes. "I meant for good. There's more love in the world now."

"Oh!" I said quickly. "Yeah, that's good. That's always good."


	14. Realizations

**Chapter 14: Realizations**

**IGGY**

"I'm really sorry that you've been feeling that way," Aaron said. "You know I was just playing around, don't you?"

"I guess," Nudge said weakly. "Mm, it's easy to forgive you."

"Yeah," Aaron agreed. "And I forgive you, too. You know, Nudge," he said slyly. "It's not often we're completely alone like this. There are usually people around... let's take advantage of this."

Nudge hesitated for a very long time before saying, "Yeah. We're alone. Fun."

Now, you may be wondering, "Hey, Iggy, if they're completely alone, how are you hearing all this?" Well, that would be from my vantage point in the trees from which I was stalking them.

Things hadn't been going well. Despite appearances, I have been supportive of this relationship from day one. Yeah, Nudge spent a lot of time e-mailing him, on the phone, video-chatting. Every single day, for hours at a time, and yes, she was fading out of the family. But every time she came off, she would be so happy. She'd give a blow-by-blow of every word they exchanged, and I could tell that she truly was a smitten little girl.

Things had been changing lately. She still spent the same amount of time with him as before, but the aftermath was drastically different. Now, when she was done, she'd hardly detail the conversation at all. She acted happy, but the spring was out of her step. I was starting to think something shifty was happening with this Aaron dude. So, as soon as they arranged their next in-person date, I followed along in secret.

Nudge shrieked. "Aaron, don't tickle me," she said.

Nothing to worry about yet, I said to myself. Don't get freaked out over something little like that.

Nudge continued to laugh. "Aaron, I mean it. I don't like being tickled. I don't like it at all." Those last two words came out firmly, with no trace of humor. "Aaron, I'm not laughing anymore. Stop it. I hate that."

I had heard that tickling could occasionally lead to something more. And Nudge was clearly starting to get angry. I debated showing myself. What if Nudge was just playing around, though? If she discovered I was spying on her, she'd be furious, even if the date wasn't going well. I elected to lay low.

"Aaron," Nudge snarled. "Knock. It. Off." Then, "Okay, that's not even tickling now, now you're just hurting me. Aaron! Aaron, stop it! That hurts."

That was it. In the unlikely event that Nudge became angry at me, it would be completely worth it. I swooped down on them and lifted Aaron over my head by his throat.

"Hey, dude," I said. "When a lady says stop, you stop."

"Iggy!" Nudge said, and I knew immediately that I was doing the right thing. All the relief and affection she managed to slip into the simple mention of my name was phenomenal.

I dropped Aaron to the ground, and I heard Nudge kick him. "I never want to see you again, you creep!" she snarled. "Come on, Iggy. Let's go home."

She took my hand and led me out of the forest, on the wing. It took us an hour to fly back to school, and we didn't exchange a single word the whole time. We landed on the roof of our dormitory.

"Thanks, Iggy," she said.

I shrugged. "Just watching out for you, Nudge. I didn't do anything special."

"There was more to this than stopping him from tickling me," she insisted. "I don't think I ever would have noticed how little feelings I had left for him if you hadn't turned up. Just imagine, Iggy! I would follow your advice to the ends of the earth, and you told me that I should let a few things slide. I might have held by that for the rest of my life. But you, jumping out like that... oh, Iggy, if you hadn't done that, I would have thought that him tickling me and touching me like that... I would have thought that it was one of those things to let slide. But when you came and ripped him off me, only then did I fully understand what you meant. The little things you can let slide, but if someone is genuinely a creep..." She trailed off. "I don't know, I'm no good with words."

"Really? 'Cause you use a hell of a lot of 'em," I said.

Nudge laughed, then leapt upon me and pressed her lips to mine. Her lips were very soft, and wonderfully warm, and they tasted sweet, like a paper-thin sprinkling of the most delicious fruit candy.

For five minutes, she kissed me, and I didn't react at all. I didn't reject the kiss, but I didn't return it either. I just stood there motionless for five minutes and let her do all the kissing herself.

I can't know for sure, but I would guess that no one in the world could ever have come up with a better response for a kiss with Nudge.


	15. Lifted

**Chapter 15: Lifted**

**MAXIMUM RIDE**

"So... are you two... together, then?" I said hesitantly.

Iggy's reconnaissance of Nudge's date had seemed like a good idea given Nudge's mood lately, but I did not expect this. This morning, they come downstairs and tell us that, together, they beat up Aaron, left him out in the woods, and made out on the roof of the dormitory before going to bed.

"I don't know," Nudge admitted. "We came home, and it just kind of... happened."

"I think it's great," Angel piped up.

"Don't put too much stock in things that 'just happen'," Fang sneered from the other end of the room.

I whirled on him. "You stop that, Fang!" I snarled. "Didn't I make it clear to you where I stand on this?You're going to have to give up."

He stood up and approached me. "You stop it, Max," he said. "You're the one who started this."

"What? Because you were hurt and I just happened to kiss you?" I retorted. "That was months ago, Fang, and have I shown the slightest interest in you since then?"

"Well, if your raging jealousy every time a female human being passes within a twenty-foot radius of me is any indication, yes, yes you have."

"Fang, I care for you," I said. "I don't want to see anything bad happen to you. We're a flock, okay? We look out for one another. And I think that any kind of relationship between members of the flock would ruin the dynamic."

"We're not a 'flock'," Fang snapped. "That's just a dumb thing you came up with. 'Oh, we're part bird, so let's call ourselves a flock! It's genius!' Of all the dumb excuses to cover up your total lack of interest in anyone but yourself..." He looked at me, and I must have looked pretty angry, because his face became a mask of terror. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking, it just... it just..."

"Consider it taken back," I said coldly.

"I'm so sorry," he continued. "I didn't mean it. I should have realized it would offend you... I'm just... I'm just really stressed right now. Maybe I need something to drink, or... or... or... I don't know. But I didn't mean it at all. That's not what I was trying... I mean, I know you care very much about people and... uh, people and, I don't know. I've been under a lot of stress, is all I'm saying, I don't..."

"Fang," I said, shocked. "Are you...? You've never done that before."

"What?" he demanded, horrified.

"You're babbling!" I broke out in laughter of an intensity that I had never known.

"What?" he said, confused.

"You're babbling!" I repeated through my choking laughter and tears. His expression softened, to bewilderment, then to relief.

The warning bell rang for morning classes.

"So what just happened?" Fang muttered.

"I just can't stay mad at you, you bizarre, strange person," I said, shaking my head. "I don't know what to do with you." I departed for class, the rest of the flock following me.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I got into my seat in the eighth-grade first hour classroom. After three weeks, the stares that followed me around had died down a bit. They probably would have completely gone away by now if not for the fact that we had missed the first semester.

Just a tip: try not to miss the first semester ever at a school that was built for you and dedicated to you. It's not polite.

"Hi, Max," said the girl next to me. She had long black hair and thick glasses, and the pile of books she carried around was disproportionate to the number of classes offered at Lerner's.

"Hey," I said.

"So, how are you enjoying school so far?" she asked.

"Well, once I got over my deep-seated aversion to the word 'school', it's been kind of enjoyable," I admitted.

The girl laughed. "I think everyone has an aversion to the word 'school'."

"Well, the lab that I grew up in. They called it the School."

The girl bit her lip. "Oh, that's right," she said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said. "Like I said, I'm past that now. Hey, I'm sorry, what is your name?"

"Keegan," she said. She smiled and held out a hand for me to shake.

"So, what are you in for?" I asked.

She chuckled. "Well, I read too fast for my own good. My dad wasn't satisfied with any of the schools in the country... expectations are too high, you know? Well, I guess you don't. Man, I'd come home with an A-minus or lower and he'd freak out. This was the first boarding school that we tried..." Keegan looked into the air, deep in thought. "I worked hard here. I've always tried my best, but I really took it the extra mile. I did not want to miss a chance to attend school with... with..." Her eyes slid to me, then quickly away. Her face went red.

"Us?" I guessed. "You wanted to go to school with the bird kids."

"Well... specifically Fang," she admitted.

"Ah," I said. I looked over at Fang, three rows in front of me and still staring at me hard, trying to figure out what was going on inside my mind. Ha-ha, see how he likes it. Now he knows what the rest of the world goes through every single day.

"That's probably why a lot of girls signed up for this school," Keegan was saying. "If you don't mind me saying so, he is flippin' hot."

"So I've heard," I said.

"Yeah... but don't tell Niles I said that." She indicated the boy across the room from us. I knew him by sight; his hair was very short and so blond that he practically looked bald, and he had awkwardly broad shoulders. He saw Keegan pointing him out to me and grinned.

"Boyfriend?" I guessed.

She wiggled her hand, showing off the green plastic ring on her middle finger. "Going steady since November," she said. Niles saw Keegan flaunting the trinket and smiled wider.

"That's great," I said.

"So, what about you?" Keegan asked. "Let me tell you, Lerner's has a great dating scene. Has anybody caught your eye?"

"Well..." I shifted my eyes to the next few rows of seats, then back to Keegan. "As a matter of fact, I'm going out with Fang."

"Really?" Keegan said.

I nodded. "Absolutely."

"Looks like that's news to him," she noted.

Following her gaze, Fang did look pretty shocked.

"Yeah, it is," I admitted. "But I don't think he'll argue. Will you?" I called to him.

Fang—my Fang, my truest friend, my rock, my soulmate—shook his head.

"There you have it then," I said.


	16. They Know

**Chapter 16: They Know**

**EDWARD CULLEN**

My little branch of the family - Bella, Nessie, Jacob, and myself - were out hunting in the Alaskan wilderness.

That's when it hit me - I'm the only person in the family to actually have my own branch of it. That's pretty neat. And then when Nessie is full grown and marries Jacob... well, I'd rather not think about that, but it is interesting to think that I could be the beginning of a line of partially-mortal descendants.

"Nice of Albert to fly cover for us," I noted.

Bella looked up at the giant seagull, flying a circuit several miles across. "It's not really necessary, though," she said. "I mean, we have wolves and vampires doing a pretty good job of keeping range with each other all over the forest... and Albert's not quite as reliable as we are. I mean, if Albert's senses were better, he'd have noticed by now that there's a giant frog who will intersect our path in three... two..."

The eight-foot tall, bipedal, red-eyed frog jumped in front of us. In a single second, every vampire and wolf adjacent to our path was by our side, in a fighting stance. Jasper, Leah, Quil, Charlotte, and Siobhan had the frog flanked. Albert swooped in a few moments later.

"Leave here, Laura," he said firmly. "Leave now."

"Albert!" the frog said. "Jewel said you'd been killed. Gone rogue, then?"

"We were rogues before," Albert corrected. "The Cullens have shown Felicia and I mercy, and in return we're helping them against their enemies... which includes the Big Guy."

"_Jewel_ said?" Jasper interrupted. "I killed Jewel."

Laura laughed icily. "He's a machine, idiot. He can be put back together." She scanned the group. "As can you creatures, apparently, but Jewel whipped up a little remedy. I'm here to test it out."

Albert used his bird foot to draw a pistol from his belt, then transferred it to his wing-hands. "Laura, I'm not going to let you hurt these people," he said. "I will shoot you."

Laura laughed. "That's not a gun," she said. She pointed an enormous, wicked-looking device at Albert's chest. "_This_ is a gun."

Albert winced. "Cute reference," he said, "but please, come with us. This family can give us a safe haven."

I eyed the contraption that Laura had claimed as a gun. It was so heavy that Laura needed the full strength of both arms to hold it; it was bright red and yellow, almost looking like a plastic child's toy. Where a barrel would be on a gun, there was a sharp point.

But I saw more about it in Laura's mind. She was not bluffing when she said that the gun was a "remedy" for the indestructibility of vampires.

"I don't want a safe haven," Laura sneered. "I want to rule the world."

Laura delivered a powerful kick to Albert's chest, knocking him backward. She pointed the gun and shot at me. I dodged, but Charlotte, standing right behind me, was not so lucky. She didn't know what I did about the device.

My face on the ground, I couldn't see the effects of the ray. But everyone else did, and there was no way to block their thoughts.

To Albert and Laura, it simply appeared as if a beam of light hit Charlotte, who convulsed lightly and then vanished. But my fellow vampires had keener, faster vision, and they saw exactly what the process was.

The weapon shot two rays. The first was a barely perceptible grid, which neatly chopped Charlotte up into a million pieces, so quickly that she didn't even have time to fall apart before the second ray blinked her out of existence.

_Jewel was right,_ Laura thought, elated. _Lasers can kill them. Rip them apart and burn the pieces. Rip them apart and burn the pieces._

The methodic way the thoughts came was bewildering; then I realized that I was not the only one who could hear those thoughts. A device in her brain was transmitting all of the information back to her home base.

I leapt upon Laura and snapped her neck. She was dead, but it was too late.

"They know," I said quietly. "They know how to kill us."

"It... it didn't take a second," Bella whispered. "She's... she's gone."

"Not good," Jasper muttered. "Not good at all. Jewel has been revived, they have a flawless method to kill vampires, the Volturi are still coming, and we've lost two friends. This is not looking good."

"Why two friends?" Albert asked.

Jasper gave a humorless smile. "Charlotte was with Peter. If Felicia died, would you want to beat her by very much?"

"Oh," Albert said, understanding.

"When a vampire falls in love, they stay that way," I said solemnly. "And when the object of that love is killed, there's not much to live for unless you count revenge."

"I'll go find him and tell him," Jasper said. He bolted away.

Jacob whimpered. There never was the more perfect expression of horror.

"We're going to die," Siobhan stated, her voice resigned. She was certain of her words. "We are all going to die."


	17. Treacherous Jewel

**Chapter 17: Treacherous Jewel**

**THE BIG GUY**

Laura was dead, and Felicia and Albert had betrayed us. We moved our base of operations to Tran's company in Laos.

"We can't win this, Big Guy," Tran said.

"We can," I corrected. "Laura proved that Jewel's hypothesis was true. We can kill the vampires with lasers. Now we need something to wield those lasers, and we'll be set."

"We'll do it," Ray volunteered.

I looked at the many security monitors in Tran's office. "What's the nursery?" I asked. One of the monitors was marked "nursery", but I couldn't identify what was happening on that screen.

"That's where I raise the clones of extinct creatures," Tran said vaguely. "They're nurtured and trained... I've been thinking of going public with them in a year or so."

"Extinct creatures?" I said, peering into the monitor. "Like dinosaurs?"

"A few. Mostly fish and amphibians. I didn't try dinosaurs until about eight months ago. Coelophysis, Ankylosaurus... there are some Tyrannosaurs there..." he pointed to one of the enclosures. Zooming in, there could be no doubt that those were three baby dinosaurs.

"That is amazing, Tran," I said. "They should have locked you up with the rest of us."

"Couldn't have," Tran said. "I'm rich."

Ram grinned. "Dinosaurs?" he said. "Dinosaurs that shoot lasers?"

"That's what I was thinking," I said. "It's completely cliché, but undeniably effective. Tran, can you accelerate their growth?"

"Yes," he said. "I have a machine that could make them adults by morning. But I don't think I want to do that, Big Guy. It's a delicate process. If I force them into adulthood, they might not have the necessary skills they could only learn as chicks."

"What machine?" I asked. He showed me a few calculations. "Well, I don't think that'll be an issue," I said, looking them over. "While we're aging them, we can use encoding to accelerate their learning as well." I couldn't help but laugh. "Dinosaurs. Tran, you are amazing." I called into my communicator. "Jewel!"

"Yeah?" he said instantly.

I jumped in surprise. Jewel was standing right behind me; I hadn't realized he was even in this wing of the building, let alone in the room with me.

"Oh, I didn't realize... well, did you hear the plan?"

"Yeah," Jewel said. "Frickin' dinosaurs with frickin' laser guns. That's... that's the last straw, dude."

I cocked my head. "What do you mean?"

"You're too theatrical, Big Guy," he said. "You're just using things that look awesome. If you ask me, if something doesn't work, it's a bad plan no matter how cool and scary it is. If I'd been running this operation, this would be the United Planet of ICBG-ia by now."

"Is that right?" I said.

"Absolutely," Jewel said sincerely. "I had hoped... counted on, even, that you guys would take over the world on your own... then when you've overthrown the world, I overthrow you. So much for that theory. Jesus Christ. I always knew you were a moron, Big Guy, but I never thought you were completely incompetent. I'm taking over this invasion."

"Taking over?" I demanded.

"Yup," he said. "No more ICBG, no more Tran Industries, no more Big Guy. It's all Jewel now. And Jewel will rewel the wewerld."

Ray and Ram sensed my agitation and moved in towards Jewel. Jewel spread his pearl-sculpted arms and pierced them both through the heart.

"Jewel," I gaped. "What did you just do?"

"What's it look like I did? I killed them."

"You murdered children," I said incredulously. "I thought you had morals, ideals. That's the way I programmed you."

"No, Big Guy," Jewel said. "That's not it at all. It's me who's been programming you. Programming you to think that your precious little Jewel can do no wrong. Your lackeys have been telling you all this time how mean and sadistic I am. But you'd never believe it, would you? Nope. Well, maybe you should apologize to your people now. Oh, wait, they're all dead or rogue." He looked around at Danny and Tran, whose expressions switched between horror and smugness while they looking between Jewel and myself, respectively.

"Well, not all," Jewel allowed. "But I don't think these guys are vital to my takeover. Don't need you..." He shot a web at Danny, which completely enveloped him. The silken cocoon thrashed for a few seconds, before it went limp. Danny had suffocated.

"Don't need you..." Jewel continued. He marched up to Tran and snapped his neck. He then turned his gaze to me. "Definitely don't need you."

"Don't need me?" I fumed. "You insolent little machine! You wouldn't exist if I hadn't built you!"

"And I'm grateful, Big Guy," Jewel said. "Honest I am. I'm grateful for all your little mistakes. The mistake of making me smarter than you, that was a good one. The mistake of turning yourself into a giant gecko, which led to the third mistake of escaping. And then of course, there was the mistake of your sheer theatric nature." Jewel laughed evilly. "That was the best. I'm so glad you made these mistakes, Big Guy, but now it's time to make mistakes of my own... except that I won't. I will destroy this planet in the time it takes you to draw a picture of an airplane."

Jewel held up a weapon; a hammer with a head harder than diamond and imbibed with an electrical charge. Anything that the hammer hit would promptly crumble into dust.

"I designed that weapon," I said weakly. "I designed it for you. You're going to kill me with a gift that I gave you?"

"Yup," he said. "You catch on quick."

He swung the hammer. I was dead before I hit the floor.


	18. Confrontation

**Chapter 18: Confrontation**

**BELLA CULLEN**

Things were hard. My list of scariest moments of my life (or whatever) had a new topper. The original number one was when the Volturi came. Scary, sure, but I knew what to expect, and it didn't take long to realize how well I could shield our party from them. Then when I first met the monsters, that took over the number one spot... frightening creatures like nothing I'd ever imagined, but Alice had been sure that diplomacy would work, and she had been right.

But this was a completely new level of fear. People were after us. They wanted to kill us, and they had the means. I don't think any vampire has ever been this frightened. The echo of Peter's continual howls of anguish added to the haunting.

Needless to say, this apprehension didn't exactly help me with my performance in the play.

"Doctor, I really think we'll have to call the play off," Edward said to Dr. Cockroach.

"You might be right," the doctor admitted, shrugging. "We'll... we'll focus all our attention on helping you with your battle."

"No," I interrupted. "This is something you really want to do. I can't speak for the rest of the family, but I'll stick with the play."

Dr. Cockroach hesitated, but Edward answered his thought before he could speak it. "Doctor, you don't have any obligations to our family. You don't owe us. Put on your play and go on your honeymoon. We can handle the Volturi on our own."

"No," he said firmly. "You're our friends. We'll die for you before we ever consider giving ourselves luxuries."

Edward sighed. I guessed that the doctor could not be swayed. Edward patted the doctor's shoulder, causing the exoskeleton to crackle slightly. "Thank you," he said. "It's better than we deserve. The least we can do is help you with your vision."

Dr. Cockroach scowled. "I feel awfully selfish making you do this, though..."

"It's fine," Edward said. "We can act and prepare for war at the same time." A pause, then: "Put your whole heart into it, doctor. Shakespeare as it's never been done before. I know you can do it."

The doctor nodded. "Thank you very much, Edward."

As we went over our blocking, an oddly sweet-smelling person came up to us. I swallowed a bit of my own venom in an effort to quench the thirst. I knew without looking that it was Derek Dietl.

"Hey, you guys are Alice's family, right?" he said. "How is Alice?"

"Well, she's still married, if that's what you mean," Edward said dryly.

Derek looked over at Jasper, who was pressing himself hard against the wall. "Oh, hey, Flinchy," Derek called. "I heard you got kidnapped."

"Well, I got away," Jasper called back. Having put all of his breath into that statement, Jasper took off at the most moderate speed he could manage.

"Man, why do you even keep him around?" Derek wondered. "He never cracks a smile."

"Oh, sure he does," I said. "He only makes that face when you're around."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "Me? What, does he think I'm trying to steal his wife or something?"

"No, he's not worried about that," I said. "It's just the way you smell, I think."

"What?"

"Yeah," Edward said. "You smell... awful."

Derek looked to the spot that Jasper had been leaning. "But he was way over there," he protested.

"Yeah, and let me tell you, from close range?" I said. "It's all I can do to not strangle myself just to block it."

Derek balked and ran away.

Edward laughed. "That takes care of one deadly foe," he said. He exhaled heavily. "I needed that," he muttered. "I needed a good laugh." He straightened suddenly. "What the heck?"

"Well, would you look at that," said a familiar voice.

I whirled. "Renée?" I demanded.

"Strangest thing," my mother said. "I'm on Perez, the gossip site. There is an article about Ginormica. I don't particularly care about monsters, so I scroll down... then I catch a strangely familiar name. I scroll back up, and it says that Ginormica is hanging out with her pal Bella Cullen. There's no picture with the article, but I do a bit of digging online... curioser and curioser, let me tell you. Two years since you've been married, two years since I've heard from you, and you have a daughter who appears to be, what, ten, eleven years old? But she can't be adopted... she has Charlie's eyes and Charlie's hair. But then I see the pictures of you, and _you_ no longer have Charlie's eyes or Charlie's hair. Odd. Just odd."

I flinched. "I'm sorry. Are... are you angry?"

"A bit," Renée said. "Mostly I'm just confused. You're still in touch with Charlie, he told me so himself, but he doesn't know what the heck is going on. He just knows you're now a 'monster' of some kind. So, what? I mean, I always knew there was something strange about the Cullens. They all look and act alike even though they're not related... but now you look like them too. So, what then? Angel? Demon? Vampire? Zombie? Am I completely out of my head? Or did you just get plastic surgery?"

"Uh... the third one," I said lamely.

"Although technically the second-to-last one was also correct," Edward supplied. I punched his arm.

Renée raised an eyebrow. "Vampire, then?"

"I have never known anyone who guessed that fast," Edward muttered. "Usually we clear out before it even comes close..."

"I didn't think you could handle it, Mom," I said. "I didn't think that a change like this would be something you could ever accept."

"So you just phased out of my life, then?" my mother said coldly.

"It's not that I was trying to hide it from you," I said hastily. "It was more like... like... like I didn't want you to, um, find... out..."

"And sometimes a house burns up, and sometimes a house burns down," Edward mused.

"Yeah, not helping, Edward," I snarled.

"Sorry," he said. "Listen, Renée, it was Bella's intent that we wait several years before this change. Go to college, keep in touch with you. But when she became pregnant, the only way to save her was... I believe Jacob called it 'emergency vampirization'. We never meant to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" Renée repeated. "Hey, I'm not hurt. I thought you knew me better than that. This is... awesome! My daughter's a monster! That is just plain cool!" She passed me a card. "You guys call me! I want me to meet my half-immortal granddaughter!"

Renée skipped away.

"Wow," I said. "Just when you think she can't get any weirder..."

"She proves remarkably perceptive and accepting of change," Edward finished. "I always liked her. We should call her."

"Isn't it dangerous, though?" I said. "She knows what we are. That can't slide."

"Yeah, well, either all of the Volturi or all of us will be dead before the week is out," Edward said dryly. "It doesn't particularly matter."


	19. The Play

**Chapter 19: The Play**

**INSECTOSAURUS**

Dr. Cockroach's production of _Romeo and Juliet_ was performed on a hillside, just as it was done in Shakespeare's day. And I, as usual, had the best seat in the house. Of course, that's a relative measure. I was about a mile away. But for me, that's a good vantage point.

They say that if there is real-life chemistry between actors, their character chemistry vanishes. Let me tell you, that is only a theory. Fang and Max in the title roles were borderline inappropriate.

It went off without a hitch. Though the illusion was occasionally disrupted by Link, B.O.B., and Doc in their supporting roles, the rest of the cast could pass for humans, and I was completely hypnotized by the romance, drama, and tragedy.

After the play was over, we held a party on the roof of a skyscraper. I assume that was for my sake, but I didn't want to presume, so I didn't bring it up. Everyone we knew was there. Absolutely everyone; good friends, acquaintances, people we know in passing.

I assured Link that if I had anything important to say, I would call for him, or perhaps Edward. I didn't think I would; I was content to simply dance with myself as usual. Well, and eavesdrop. You'd be surprised how easy I am to overlook when I'm at your eye level.

I was taken by how many hands there were at the party. Not the hands themselves, but the hands that were being held by the hands. Human hands holding other human hands, vampire hands holding other vampire hands. Burning-hot werewolf hands holding the cooler, softer hands of their mates. Bird-kid hands. Whatever it is that Albert and Felicia do that qualifies as holding hands.

No hands for me. No hand in giant nuclear butterfly claw. Don't worry about me, I got over that notion circa 1974.

Jasper was at the edge of the buiding. He was holding a tiny electric fan, blowing it into his face. He noticed my staring and said, "Trying not to smell too much of Derek." I nodded. I had never found Derek's scent to be particularly impressive in either direction, but Jasper apparently found it unbearably tempting.

Bella, Alice, and Rosalie were discussing the new development of the return of Bella's mother.

"It feels really freaky," Bella said. "Not that... not only because she's back, when I assumed I'd never see her again. But that's the thing! I _realized_ that I had thought I'd never see her again, and that stresses me out for some reason."

Alice frowned. "I'm not sure I follow."

"I do," Rosalie said with a smirk. "Remember when Bella was human, and everyone was reminding her that she was throwing away her entire life to be a vampire, but she did it anyway. And now that a portion of that thrown-away life has come back, Bella finally realizes the implications of that."

"Oh!" Alice said. "Oh, I see."

"Bella regrets her decision," Rosalie said triumphantly. "As I knew she would. Ha-ha, I totally should have bet you guys some money."

"No!" Bella said emphatically. "I don't regret this. I..." She scanned the crowd, focusing on the faces of Edward, Nessie, Charlie... "I don't regret this," Bella repeated. "I can't."

My attention went to Jasper again, who tossed his fan over the side of the building and muttered, "Fuck it." In an instant, he zipped to the opposite end of the roof, where Derek was standing, completely alone. Jasper snapped Derek's neck and sprinted down the stairs to the inside of the building. None of the partygoers nearby Derek had even noticed.

"Jasper!" Alice said, shocked.

"Don't judge me!" came a muffled voice from a few floors below.

Alice sighed and walked down the stairs at a normal pace.

The flock was at a table together. Jeb pulled Max aside.

"Max, I know you enjoyed working on this play," he said. "And I understand that you have plans to aid your friends in their upcoming battle, whatever it is that's going on with them. But there's still the big picture."

"I don't really give a rat's ass about the big picture, Jeb," Max said. "Don't get me wrong, I have every intention of saving the world. But I'll do it my way, Jeb. All your scientists and governments and corporations can do their own thing if I can do mine."

"Max, do you still not trust me?" Jeb asked.

"Please. I probably trust you the least of anybody in the world, and there are a lot of people I do not trust worth hell. When people touch surfaces that you've touched, they become less trustworthy for a period of time. It's nothing personal, Jeb. I don't trust anybody."

Jeb frowned.

"It's a policy that the flock adheres to," Max said simply. "We don't keep friends."

"What about those two kids from your school?" Jeb challenged.

"Keegan and Niles? They're nice enough kids. But they go to Lerner's, and that means their parents have connections, and that means their parents can't be trusted, and that means we can't get too close to them. Not friends."

"What about everyone here?" Jeb said, sweeping an arm around. "All these people you've been spending time with. They're friends, aren't they?"

"Nope," Max said. "They aren't friends either." When Jeb looked confused, Max clarified, "Family. The Cullens and the monsters are family. And family is who I trust. And you, Jeb, you're not family. I'm sorry. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go discuss tactics. My _family_ is fighting two wars and they need all the help they can get." Max strode off. Noting my gaze, she gave me a small salute and a curt "Insecto."

I nodded but didn't answer. My speaking voice tends to break things, with or without a sonic charge.

Alice dragged Jasper back to the roof. His eyes were glowing maroon, he was slightly bloated, and he was swaying. The rest of the Cullens looked at Jasper with scorn.

"I am not even sorry," Jasper said. "That dude was good." He belched. It had never occurred to me that vampires could or could not belch.

"Well, you should be sorry," Esme said. "We're all ashamed of you."

"Hey, fellas, I think considering the circumstances I did a pretty good job," Jasper protested. "I was backstage with him every day for, like, a month. I didn't even get the benefit of thinking I'd lost him." Jasper smiled weakly. I presumed it was some sort of family in-joke. A lot of those develop when there are so few people you can trust.

When no one laughed, Jasper scowled. "Oh, give me a break. I think I should get a medal for holding out so long, personally. Come on, every single one of you slips up occasionally."

"I don't," Rosalie said bluntly. "Never have."

"I don't either, Jasper," Alice said. "I work really hard to make sure that I don't."

"I haven't for ages," Esme said.

"I don't think I count," Bella said, "but I've never slipped up either."

Jasper looked at a table where Edward, Emmett, and Carlisle were sitting. "Every single one of you _dudes_ slips up occasionally."

"I don't slip up," Carlisle corrected. "And I have had a long time to potentially slip up."

"Okay, stand up," Jasper said. Carlisle stood up and Jasper addressed the other two. "Every single one of you dudes sitting down slips up occasionally."

"You're kind of reaching, Jazzy," Edward said dryly.

"Come on, give the guy a break," Emmett said. "We do our best. So we kill a few appetizing people. In our way of life, it can't be helped."

"Your total disregard for human life is charming as always, Emmett," Edward said dryly. He says most things dryly. "Here, Jasper, what's done is done. Just put on some shades before you start scaring children."

"Come on, boys," Carlisle said. "No fighting, now. The Volturi come tomorrow."

Max popped up behind Carlisle. "We'll be there," she said firmly. "And we'll be ready."

"Us too," Susan supplied.

I decided to throw in my two cents, in the form of the most confident, powerful screech I'd ever mustered. I tried to aim it upward, where it couldn't blow anything away.

"_SCREEEEEEEEECH._"

All eyes turned to me and the party went silent, until Link broke it with a "Hell yeah!"

Max leapt to the top of a table. "Yeah, baby!" she said. "No force can stand against the united monsters of the world! These suckas are goin' down!"

Cheers erupted, primarily from the gathered humans who had no idea what the hell we were talking about.

We didn't need them to know. We're a big family of partial humans, former humans, and nonhumans. We all love each other and protect each other. No one will hurt us while that love lasts. Ever.


	20. Prepare for Battle

**Chapter 20: Prepare for Battle**

**CARLISLE CULLEN**

Our fighting force was set up in a clearing in an Alaskan forest.

We were led by our family of fifteen - Esme and myself, Edward and Bella, Nessie and Jacob, Rosalie and Emmett, Alice and Jasper, Eleazar and Carmen, Kate and Garrett. And Tanya. Poor girl.

Jacob's pack was there as well - Leah, Seth, Quil, and Embry. Technically also part of the family. Jacob had insisted that Sam's pack remain in La Push to do their job. The tribe couldn't lose their primary defenders.

There was Stefan and Vladimir, gleeful for another opportunity at revolution in so short a time span, this one doubtless a fight. Siobhan, Maggie, Liam, Zafrina, Senna, Kachiri, Benjamin, Tia, Peter - loyal friends all, ready to fight and die with us. I hoped none of them would. Losing Charlotte had been hard enough.

Maria had joined us, still considering herself a family friend despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. But every little helps. Maria also had a new creation. Week-old and completely out of control, he would be no loss. Nor would Maria, for that matter.

Add five monsters, six bird children, and two half-animal geniuses, and we had a fighting force of forty-five.

We would crush the Volturi. Of that I was certain, as long as Bella remained safe to block their mind attacks.

But I would wager that the Volturi would get a few blows in. Unlike Victoria's army, these opponents were sane, competent, and skilled. Losses would occur. Forty-five enter, how many leave?

"You bird kids stay up high," I advised them. "A vampire can jump twenty feet from a standstill, fifty with a good running start. You won't survive hand-to-hand combat with them if they catch you."

"Here," Dr. Cockroach said. "My friends and I raided the abandoned ICBG base in Libya. I took a sample of the hook weapons of the Alexis robot; they had a whole cube of the metal there. I made some knives, swords, and flechettes with that alloy, and I'm pretty sure they will have the same effect as Alexis did."

I held out my hands, wrists up. "Give it a try," I suggested.

He hefted a sword, and severed my fingers.

Edward whistled. "What kind of metal is that?"

Dr. Cockroach helped me gather my fingers and said, "I haven't the foggiest. I can't identify it. It's either extraterrestrial or some mix of metals that I've never heard tell of."

"The latter," Albert supplied. "An old ally of ours, Tran, discovered it. When Alexis was found effective, we got a whole chunk of the alloy to implement into a new line of robots. I wonder why they would just leave the whole thing in the Libyan base?"

"I'd imagine they had enough of it," Edward said grimly.

"Well, here, children," Dr. Cockroach said. "I have six flechette guns here."

"Keep to the air once the battle begins," I reminded the flock. "And until then, keep away from David Bowie."

Max frowned. "Sorry, who?"

"David Bowie," I repeated. "He's ravenous, and you smell human enough that he'll probably go after you."

"David Bowie is a vampire?" Max demanded. "I didn't even know he was supposed to be dead."

"No, Maria stole him and envenomed him just a week ago," I clarified. "He hasn't been reported missing yet. If you should meet him on the battlefield, count him among your enemies, because he won't be any help to us."

"Why David Bowie?" Fang wondered.

"Because Maria is a psycho bitch, that's why," Bella offered.

"Heard that," Maria called from across the clearing.

"Said it audibly," Bella countered.

"So, Alice, how's this going to turn out?" Dr. Cockroach asked Alice.

"Don't know," she said. "Can't see a thing when there are wolves around. But our strategy is a good one."

Our strategy was centered in the clearing. The clearing was not the most defensible place we could muster; the Volturi would surround us, but we were counting on that.

The five wolves were the outer guard, forming a five-pointed star. All of the vampires were organized farther in, with Jasper and Emmett staying close to Maria and Bowie to keep them in check. Bella was in the exact center, keeping a tightly-packed mind shield over all of us.

The six bird kids were flying overhead as our air guard, Insectosaurus higher above them, and Albert and Felicia piloting the ICBG plane. The other four monsters were stationed throughout the woods, cloaked by devices that made them completely invisible. No one, even a vampire, would be able to see, hear, or smell them until they attacked.

We even wore communicators. Emmett adjusted his and said, "Okay, everybody. You have anybody to make out with, do it now, 'cause it might be the last time." He laughed his booming laugh.

Several minutes later, the Volturi guard began to appear around the edges of the clearing, advancing on us. They didn't flinch. They came at us slowly, confidently. And we leveled equally confident stares at them.

"This it it," Alice said. "It's time."


	21. Love and War

**Chapter 21: Love and War**

**FELICIA NGUYEN**

The screen on my goggles read, "ALICE: This is it. It's time." My goggles were hooked up to everyone else's communicators, giving me an interpreted reading of who was speaking and what was being said. Albert and I were piloting the craft we had stolen from the Libyan base, monitoring the battle and aiding in it.

The central clearing was a blur of hand-to-hand combat. I used the computer to narrow down targets to vampires with human blood in their systems, then manually eliminated the Cullens' allies. Several guided fireballs flew from the weapon deck and completely wiped out the Volturi's front guard.

That was the only charge of that weapon that we had; it had been agreed that it would be used to wipe out the first wave, while the others would be defeated in a more hands-on fashion.

After the first assault ended, several of the vampires on our side began to disperse to find the remainder of the guard, while the rest remained tightly packed in the clearing.

I got a read on my goggles: "UNKNOWN VOICE: Ah, Garrett. I see you've converted to the freak diet."

"GARRETT: Hello, Sylvester. Yes, that's right. It's almost, but not quite, entirely unlike human blood. But I'm getting by for my woman if nothing else. Now, if you'll excuse me."

I caught a brief visual of Garrett bringing down the vampire called Sylvester.

Continuing to move the plane, I reported, "I have a visual on a number of soldiers in Susan's territory."

Susan materialized and tore the vampires apart with her bare hands, then hastily burned them.

"Visual on lack of soldiers in Susan's territory," Susan said, her face cheerful. As I turned the plane around, I saw the bird kids shooting flechettes into the trees below. A few vampires jumped over the tree line and very nearly caught them.

"Hey, kids," Susan said into her communicator. "If you run into trouble, stick with me. Safety in numbers, remember. And I'm three or four at least."

My goggles reported laughter from numerous sources. Then:

"B.O.B.: I have a visual."

"DR. COCKROACH: On what?"

"B.O.B.: A bunny."

"DR. COCKROACH: We're fighting vampires, B.O.B."

"B.O.B.: But look at the bunny!"

"DR. COCKROACH: To hell with the bunny! We're fighting vampires!"

"B.O.B.: Fine, fine. Jeez..."

Albert closed in on another clearing. Peter was fighting valiantly, despite his highly suicidal attitude. Though the death of Charlotte had destroyed him, he was not so selfish as to abandon his friends at their time of need. He had asked the Cullens to put him out of his misery after both conflicts were over, not before.

"Help!" came a distress call from Link. "I'm getting overwhelmed! I'm not fast enough for them."

Albert pulled the plane in to scoop up Link. The two vampires attacking him were Jane and Alec. Word of this spread throughout the team, and a vast number of our allies teamed up on the two tiny vampires. Albert and I didn't watch, but we didn't need to. There was no way that Jane and Alec could have survived that dog-pile.

In another distant fray, Senna and Kachiri had been destroyed. Zafrina had blinded their assailants and avenged her sisters.

Insectosaurus swooped in on a large crowd of Volturi witnesses, screeching at them. His sonic charge had no effect on them, so he simply stomped on them.

A few other vampires were taken out by what appeared to be a chemical bomb. It wiped them out completely.

I later discovered that it was not a chemical bomb, just Gazzy. Max told me that I should thank the lord that I was in a pressurized plane.

Tanya had just been dismembered and burned by two slender vampire women, who Carlisle quickly grabbed by the arm.

"Aro, Caius, Marcus," Carlisle called. "I have the wives. Surrender or I'll burn them. You know I'm not bluffing."

The three Volturi leaders stepped out.

"We do not surrender," Caius snarled.

"Yes we do, brother," Aro said. "We agree, Carlisle. Please, do not hurt Sulpicia. What are your demands?"

"Step off the throne," Carlisle said. "You are no kings. Leave your castle, your collections, your treasures, and give up the throne to my boy Edward."

"You're mad," Caius hissed.

Aro punched Caius in the face, knocking him down. "Very well, Carlisle. Well fought, my old friend. Your boy will make a fine ruler."

"Wait, me?" Edward said. "Why not you, Carlisle?"

"Because you'd be much better at it than me," Carlisle said. "You're smarter, wiser, stronger, and much more good-hearted. More so than me, more so than any person on this planet."

"Damn right," Bella agreed.

"That's ridiculous," Edward said. "I can't be king. You're wrong, Carlisle, I'm not that good. You should take the throne."

"You're the best person who ever existed, Edward," Bella countered.

"I learned it all from Carlisle," Edward protested.

"You have surpassed me, my son," Carlisle said. "I want you to be king. You don't have to, but I certainly won't do it."

"Perhaps we can discuss this at a later time," Aro supplied. "Please, give me back my Sulpicia." Carlisle released the wives, who returned to the Volturi. "Again, well fought. I hope we shall meet again, friend Carlisle." The five Volturi, all that remained of the coven and guard, bounded away.

Stefan grinned. "That was most satisfying," he said. "Come, brother. Edward, best of luck on your new regime."

"I'm not going to have..." Edward began, but the Romanians had already departed.

Kate put a hand on Zafrina's shoulder. "Sorry you lost your sisters."

Zafrina took Kate's hand. "You have lost too much family yourself, it seems. I saw Tanya; she fought valiantly before the wives defeated her."

Kate nodded. "I have lost many family members, but I'd like to think I've gained a few as well," she said. "Zafrina, would you like us to adopt you into our coven?"

"Family," Garrett corrected.

"Of course," Kate said, grinning. "Zafrina?"

"I would like to join your family very much," Zafrina said. "I would like to attempt to take on your diet as well."

"Well, as First Lady of the Vampire World, I think I'll require everyone to try the vegetarian diet," Bella said.

"You're not First Lady," Edward said irritably. "I don't want to be king."

"I think you're overruled, bro," Emmett said. "Well, everyone, we've lost some family, but they died protecting the people they loved. And hey, nobody lost their make-out buddy. Let's kiss!"

All of the vampire couples kissed passionately. The two bird-kid pairs exchanged discreet, tender kisses. Jacob kissed Renesmee; that had happened before, but for the first time there were undeniable romantic undertones to the kiss. Edward and Bella exchanged horrified glances.

I realized that Albert was staring at me, and I looked back at him. Neither I nor my love Albert have lips; we are not capable of kissing one another. But sometimes we look at each other, and there in our eyes - the only human features on our faces - is a kiss.


	22. Judgment

**Chapter 22: Judgment**

**JEWEL**

I didn't know where I was; only that it was called the Cocoon. I didn't know why I had been brought here or what was expected of me. But for God's sake, I wanted to get the hell out. Fallen wanted me to complete retribution, so I did.

Faces came at me; every person I had ever murdered. I had killed them all once, and I could do it again. I whacked them with my hammer, bringing them down one by one. The last one to come at me was the Big Guy. That made sense, as he had been my last murder. That is, my most recent. Once I got out of the Cocoon, I intended to kill some more.

The creature returned. It had smooth red skin that glittered like rubies, wild orange hair, and pure white eyes. It had wings as well; bright blue, not quite bird wings, not quite bat wings, not quite insect wings, but something in between. Look, I don't know what the hell the thing was. Its name was Fallen. What's that, a girl's name?

"So," Fallen said, "you survived retribution."

"Yes, I did," I sneered. "Can I go now?"

Fallen looked me over. "You repulse me, Jewel."

"You can't judge me, Fallen," I said. "Get me out of this place now. I have a world to conquer."

"I never claimed to be a judge," Fallen said. "You have murdered, yes, but good and evil matter not to me. Only nature. And you, Jewel, you are not something from nature. And yet... neither are those that you have killed, or those that you are targeting now." The faces of the Big Guy, the monsters, and the flock swam in front of me. "They are as disgusting as you."

"What are you going to do to me, Fallen?" I demanded.

"I do not judge," Fallen repeated. "I only observe. I shall watch all of the unnatural things that the humans have come up with. You? You may go home."

And there I was, back at Tran Industries. If the reader finds himself confused, they are no more so than I. I had spent what felt like a week or so being observed, tested, and toyed with by Fallen - I say it felt like that because there was no day or night in the Cocoon.

Fallen had been evasive through this whole time period; the one thing I knew for sure is that it found me, and everything else technological, absolutely repugnant. It considered the flock and the monsters equal to me, simply because they were not born directly of the earth. Those adorable, loving people who protect and serve the planet are on equal footing with me, the murderous, megalomaniacal machine. Odd standards.

Well, enough of that. Time to continue my conquest of the world!

The instant that thought returned to me, I stumbled from the walkway and pitched into a vat of acid that most certainly hadn't been there before.

Yeah, that's right. I don't know how that happened. Ask the guy who doesn't judge.

As my entire body slowly dissolved, I had the feeling that the world had just become a _muy dificil_ place to be for an unnatural being.

**...to be continued in "FALLEN", Book Four of the Three-Way Crossover Series**


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